Everyone Poops...

But today - Liam went POOPie in the POTTY!  Wahoo!  I can't believe it.  He did it all on his own. His own idea. His own prompting and his own flushing!

This is big time people.  Really big time.

Hooray!

Eavesdropping and a Diaper Change

Eavesdropping:
Rushing to Adam's aid tonight gave me the biggest gift ever and it's one that I hope I never forget - hence my writing it down here.  The boys (all three) were in the shower and Adam thought Liam wanted out. He didn't. On my "way out" Jude yells "mommy, I love you!" As I was picking up dirty clothes I overheard Adam say, " That was nice Jude." Jude replied, "I do. I lover her soooo much!" With the most sincere heart.  It brought tears to my eyes - literally!  Then Adam replied, "you should tell your Mommy that everyday you know that?! It means a lot to her. When you think it, you should say it." "Ok," said Jude.

WHAT?  I have THE best family in the world and am blessed beyond belief!

Diaper Change:
The other day I  was changing Liam's diaper and wiping his bottom. He said, "don't touch it!" I said, "touch what? Your bottom?" Then he said it. The funniest two words to complete that sentence... "my penis!" I laughed. HARD.  To which he replied with a big grin, "don't touch my penis!" Ahhh, boys. You gotta love 'em.

Fourth of July

Fishing.
Swimming.
Jet Skis.
Fireworks.
Hot dogs.
Donuts.
Late nights.
Movies.
Birthday celebrations.

Really?  Does it get any better than that? I guess it could have been better if Liam didn't climb out of his pack-n-play three times the first night we were there! Uggghhh!  Oh well, we had a BLAST!

Racing in the Rain

What does a Mommy do when she has a headache and her husband has just phoned to say he has to work late?  Let the boys play in the rain!

brrr...it was a bit cold in the rain.

They got warmed up by running around in circles. I have video and tried to load it, but it didn't work! Sorry!

Here's big brother telling Liam how the race works. Liam got so hot he decided to shed his suit.

Even though these are blurry, I thought it should be noted that Jude got his first black eye. It actually looks great in these pics. It was much worse. He was running in the house, tripped on his toe and fell eye first on the floor. Only my kids...geeze, we're accident prone. xo

Summer Fun

Oh my goodness, I feel like we have been on vacation forever. First there was the beach and then Aunt Sister's lake house. Fun, fun, fun.

I'll do a post here about the beach to stay in chronological order.

Our lovely friends the Jeters asked us to go on vacation with them several months ago. We agreed and then BP's oil catastrophe hit and we didn't think we would be able to go. We played it by ear and decided at the last minute that it was an opportunity of a life time and one that we shouldn't pass up. So, we packed our bags (several of them) and headed for Alabama - Gulf Shores. There was a 10-12 hour drive ahead of us, but the excitement of the beach kept us all in good spirits.

The diaper change above looks sweet and loving until you see where it took place:

You gotta do what ya gotta do right? Adam was amazing. He drove almost the entire way there and back less the three hours that I put in. All  that and diaper changes too? What a man!

Once we got to the beach the boys were so excited.  The Jeters met us in the front of the hotel waving and smiling. Our first day on the beach was awesome.  Jude and Liam loved it.  Liam more so than Jude.

Liam waits for Daddy on the beach as Atwood and James test out the water.

Daddy and Liam play in the water and the sand. Adam would pull Liam up over the waves whenever a "big one" would come and they would both say, "here comes a big one!" So stinkin' cute!

I love this picture. It reminds me of the At&T adds, "more bars in more places."

BEST BUDDIES: Jude and James

One day was a little rainy and the Fish family needed a little outing of their own so we went to the main Gulf Shores strip and checked out the shops. We were swallowed up by a sharked and attacked by an octopus. YIKES!  After all the excitement we needed something to eat so we headed to the ice cream shop and had some of the best ice cream I've ever eaten. Afterward, Liam entertained us with dancing and climbing up on the table to eat some of his brother's shake!

The sunsets were amazing! One of the big things to do at night is go crabbin'. We put on our headlamps, grabbed our buckets and some popsicles and headed out for our adventure.

We caught a few crab. One of them was big enough to pinch the tar out of Adam's finger. ha ha ha. Atwood got so tickled at Liam because whenever we caught a crab he'd tell Atwood, "I wanna eat him!" and "We got one. We got one!"

Cricket and I enjoyed time by the beach with a margarita. And the boys enjoyed night swims at the pool. Whenever the tar balls (oil) were too bad on the beach, we swam!  Jude and James dove into the 3 foot end, swam all around and did canon balls and helicopters. Liam actually jumped in a TON, went under water a lot and began swimming back and forth between me and Adam. It was awesome.  He also enjoyed some time in the little pool with Grant. But most of his time with Grant was spent stealing his toys and yelling at Grant. He's got some discipline/obedience issues that his parents have to help him work out. 

On a different note, one day there was a purple warning flag on the beach that we didn't even notice. As I was going back to shore to get Liam's floatie, this super sweet woman told us that there had been shark sightings all day. She had one swim up close to her in fact. We got out of the water immediately and then found out that a guy a couple of "huts" down from us was stung by a stingray.  What?  FYI the purple flag means dangerous sea life in the waters. Swim at your own risk! Point noted and remembered forever!

The big guys built this awesome fort with the help of their mommies. The blue pillows in front were their pool. The loved it.

Overall, the trip was a HUGE success. We had a total blast. It was so neat to see how the boys reacted to  the ocean and it's many facets. God is amazing and wonderful. We are blessed beyond belief. And we're pretty convinced that our boys rock!  They did awesome in the car for 12 hours!  Wahoo...thank you DVD player and snacks.

No Mo "Trailing Wheels"

Friday June 11th: Dallas, Texas. Jude Fish is about to turn 5 and wants his Daddy to take him to the park to try riding his bike without "trailing wheels" aka - training wheels. Liam Fish is hungry and wants to watch a "moomee" aka movie.

Assignment: Dad takes oldest son to the park with bike. Mom readies dinner while youngest watches Peter Pan.

Jude returns happy as a lark riding his bike to and fro without "trailing wheels."

Liam dances all around as Peter Pan saves Tiger Lily. Liam also repeats over and over, "yook Mommy, they are flying" and "chomp, chomp, chomp" (the sound the alligator makes while attacking Hook.)

Daddy has the wonderful idea of celebrating the event with shaved ice snowcones. Jude gets bubblegum (sick) and Mommy and Daddy share Tiger's Blood (yum!)

Upon completions of said snowcones, Jude taught Liam his best karate moves. We had so much fun!  I hope I remember this night and the laughter we shared forever!

Mission: Accomplished

One, Two, Buckle My Shoes...

Precious isn't he? He turned two yesterday and while my heart was full of joy at the amazement of the depth of my love for him, I was also a bit sad. He's not a baby anymore. He's getting so big and he talks all the time...sentences! (I'm pretty sure he's a genius.) Liam is amazing. He has brought so much laughter and love into our home. 

Here are some of Liam's characteristics that we know of thus far: FUNNY, stubborn, strong willed, loving, affectionate when he wants to be (everything is on his terms), silly, mischievous, easily excited, athletic and focused (with a very short attention span.)

At two, Liam loves: Cars the Movie (Maymo aka Mater is his favorite), Monsters Inc., Hot Wheels, "Moomie Nigh Nigh" aka movie night celebrated with popcorn and anything sweet, his brother, doing anything and everything his brother does, balls, his Mommy and Daddy (one more than the other depending on the day), "moogic" aka music, his paci and blankie and being outside. He's also gotten into books a bit lately, taking 2-3 to bed with him each night.

He also LOVES cake, ice cream and well, SUGAR!

Liam's birthday celebration was small... brother, Mommy and Gramma. Daddy came home after a breakfast meeting for pancakes with Liam and then went to work. Liam got a new hot wheel toy from Gramma that he adores and got to go swimming with brother in the kiddie pool. We had cupcakes (as you can see) and sang Happy Birthday - he smiled and sang along. It melts my heart when he sings the birthday song and twinkle twinkle. I just want to eat him up. Anyway, I digress. Liam was running around the house, rant into the dining room table and cut his eye open. It turned slightly black and blue later. We also celebrated with a call from Papa Dude saying he had cut his finger tip off with a saw and was in the ER. Geez! Then, we were getting ready for church and thought Liam might have Hand, Foot and Mouth disease so he stayed at home and watched Monster's Inc. with Gramma. Whewww, what a rough birthday. Thank goodness for the awesome parts of the day!